— FELDER PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES —
Gifted and Twice-Exceptional Evaluations in New Jersey
Helping children, teens, and adults better understand giftedness and twice-exceptional profiles through thoughtful, comprehensive assessment.
Understanding Giftedness
Giftedness is not always obvious. Strengths can be masked by anxiety, attention challenges, learning disabilities, or emotional factors can sometimes make strengths less apparent and contribute to frustration, underachievement, or confusion about a person's abilities. If you're wondering whether giftedness or a twice-exceptional profile fits you or your child, a comprehensive evaluation can help provide answers.
Twice-exceptionality refers to strong intellectual abilities alongside learning, attention, or emotional challenges. A comprehensive evaluation clarifies whether someone meets criteria for giftedness or twice-exceptionality and helps distinguish areas of intellectual strength from areas of difficulty so that both can be understood and supported.
Every evaluation I conduct is comprehensive and individualized, with the areas assessed depending on the reason for the evaluation and the questions being asked. By the end of the evaluation, you'll have a clearer understanding of the pattern of strengths and challenges, how they fit together, and what recommendations may be most helpful moving forward.
What is a Giftedness Evaluation?
A giftedness evaluation is a comprehensive assessment of intellectual and academic abilities that helps identify areas of strength and better understand a person's learning profile and needs. It looks at how advanced abilities interact with attention and emotional functioning to provide a fuller picture of both strengths and areas that may benefit from support. Giftedness can also coexist with ADHD, anxiety, or learning disabilities, and a comprehensive evaluation can help clarify how these different factors fit together.
What Sets Us Apart
I approach every evaluation with the same goal: to understand how a person thinks, learns, and functions, not simply to answer a referral question.
This can be especially important when evaluating giftedness, since strengths can sometimes make difficulties less apparent, and difficulties can make strengths harder to recognize. A bright child may be coasting while quietly struggling, or a capable adult may never have understood why certain things felt harder than they should. Looking at the whole person allows for a more accurate understanding of what is really going on and what will help.
My reports are written to be used. They explain the findings in clear language and offer practical recommendations that clients, families, schools, and other providers can readily understand and put into practice.
Benefits of a Giftedness Evaluation
Support for Gifted Programs
Documentation that can support access to gifted programs and accelerated educational options.
A Fuller Understanding
A clearer understanding of strengths as well as areas where additional support may be helpful.
Support at School
A report that supports conversations with schools about appropriate challenge and peer connection.
Giftedness Evaluation Process
01
Virtual Intake
An initial meeting to gather a comprehensive history and discuss your current concerns.
02
Evaluation Sessions
The evaluation is completed over several in-person appointments, with each session lasting a few hours. The specific measures included are tailored to your referral questions and concerns.
03
Feedback & Report
We meet virtually to go through results. You receive a written report with findings and specific recommendations.
How a Giftedness Evaluation Helps
A giftedness evaluation helps make sense of a profile that has not always added up. It does not change the demands of school or daily life, but the understanding it provides often makes a meaningful difference, helping individuals and families move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
What Often Changes:
- Educational planning can better reflect the individual’s abilities and learning needs.
- Areas of strength can be recognized and appropriately supported.
- Learning, attention, or emotional challenges can be addressed alongside areas of strength.
- Families and individuals can make more informed decisions about supports, accommodations, and next steps.
Ready to Get Clear Answers About Giftedness?
Whether you are seeking answers for yourself, your teen, or your child, a comprehensive evaluation can provide clarity and direction.
Why a Clear Answer Matters
Giftedness does not always present in straightforward ways, particularly when attention, learning, or emotional concerns are also present. A comprehensive evaluation can help clarify the different factors that may be contributing and provide a clearer foundation for educational planning and support.
What an Evaluation Can Offer:
- Clarity around giftedness and twice-exceptionality (2e).
- Identification of areas where additional support may be
needed. - Guidance for academic programming and enrichment.
- Documentation to support educational planning when appropriate.
FAQs About Giftedness Evaluations
What is a twice-exceptional (2e) profile?
Twice-exceptional, often shortened to 2e, describes a person who has strong intellectual abilities alongside learning, attention, or emotional challenges. The strengths can mask the challenges and the challenges can mask the strengths, which is why a comprehensive evaluation is so helpful. It allows both to be identified and understood together.
How is a giftedness evaluation different from school gifted testing?
School gifted testing is usually brief and designed to determine eligibility for a specific program. A private evaluation is broader and more comprehensive. It looks at the full picture of how a person thinks and learns, including any areas of difficulty, and results in a detailed written report with individualized recommendations that can be used across settings.
Can a gifted child also have a learning difference or ADHD?
Yes. Giftedness and challenges like a learning difference, ADHD, or anxiety can absolutely occur together. When they do, the two can hide one another, so a child may look like they are doing fine while working much harder than anyone realizes. A comprehensive evaluation is designed to identify both the strengths and the challenges, so each can be supported.
When does it make sense to consider a giftedness evaluation?
It can help when a person's abilities and their performance do not seem to line up, when a bright child seems unchallenged or frustrated, or when strengths and difficulties seem tangled together. Families also seek evaluations to inform educational planning or enrichment. If you are wondering whether an evaluation is the right step, the initial consultation is a good place to start.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
If you are wondering whether a giftedness evaluation is the right step for you or your child, reaching out is a good place to start. I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation to discuss your concerns, answer any questions, and determine whether my services are the right fit.